


Squid Jigging

by dragonshost



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/pseuds/dragonshost
Summary: When she agreed to go squid jigging with Natsu and Happy, Lisanna was unaware that it would take place at three in the morning in the heart of January.
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Lisanna Strauss
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Squid Jigging

The ringing of her lacrima phone forcibly yanked Lisanna out of a dead sleep, the incessant ringing vibrating through her sleep deprived skull. A glance at her bedside clock showed the time - 2:50 am. Way too early for a call. With a groan, Lisanna reached for the device. Whoever was on the other end was going to get a piece of her mind.

"It's 3:00 am so this had better be _really_ important," she grumbled into the receiver in lieu of an actual greeting. 'Nice' Lisanna was reserved for normal waking hours, and this was not then.

"What are still doing asleep?" the warm voice of her childhood friend inquired curiously, taking no note of her tone. "It'll be high tide in like 20 minutes. If you don't hurry, you won't be able to get a good haul."

For the life of her, Lisanna could not figure out just what Natsu was going on about. "...What?" Haul? High tide?

"Squid jigging!" Natsu replied, his voice bright. "You said you wanted to come along with Happy and me. Well, now is the best time to do it. So grab your warmest clothes and meet me at the pier." With that, he hung up.

Lisanna set the phone down and yawned. Now that he had mentioned it, she did kind of vaguely recall making that promise. The day before, Mirajane had mentioned wanting to get her hands on some fresh squid for the kitchen, and Natsu had volunteered to help her restocking efforts. Seeing an opportunity to spend more time with him and Happy like when they were younger, Lisanna had jumped at the chance to go along with them. The delight on both Natsu and Happy's faces when she offered to come along had been the highpoint of Lisanna's day.

But now, in her freezing cold room at 3:00 am in the heart of January, Lisanna was wondering if maybe she should have gotten more details on what squid jigging entailed.

Skipping most of her early morning routine, Lisanna put on some miso soup to cook and hurriedly put on her warmest outfit. Once that was done, she poured the hot soup into a large thermos and took it with her out of the dorms.

Magnolia was very quiet this early in the morning. Birds had yet to awaken, and the only sounds were from the gentle slushing of the canal water against the small docks scattered along its length. The air was still and bone chillingly frigid, and the sky was clear and full of stars. A few lights were on in some of the houses, though, which was a comforting sight as Lisanna trekked to the harbor.

Fully awake by the time she arrived, Lisanna smiled at the sight of Natsu waving to her excitedly. He had already set up a spot near the end of the pier. A couple other fishermen out for the squid swarm greeted Lisanna as she passed by, and she gave them a smile and a "good morning" in return.

Natsu passed her a fully jigged line and rod once she reached him. "Here you go," he told her. "Thanks for coming, Lisanna! Having an extra set of hands will really help our haul."

Lisanna warily eyed the army of buckets he'd arranged around them. How much was he expecting to catch, exactly? "I don't see Happy," she said, looking back to Natsu.

He nodded and adjusted one of the jigs on Lisanna's line. "I forgot the spotlight back at our house, so he's grabbing it."

"Spotlight?"

Clapping her on the back, Natsu shot her a grin. "Yeah, squids like light."

 _'So then why are we doing this at 3:00 am?'_ Lisanna wondered to herself.

Almost as if he'd read her mind, Natsu explained, "Squid feed at high tide and at night, so now is the best time to catch a bunch of them." When she nodded along, he continued, "So what you'll need to do is cast your line and let it sink. Squid are generally pretty near the surface and this part of the harbor isn't super deep so you don't need to let it sink too far. Then the squid will wrap themselves around the jigs, and you pull them up. Pretty simple."

Lisanna nodded. "Alright, I got it."

Putting Natsu's advice into practice wasn't quite as easy as it had sounded, and Lisanna had yet to catch any squid but had managed to get her line caught on kelp a couple of times before Happy arrived.

"I brought the light!" Happy declared, swooping down and landing on the pier. He passed it over to Natsu. "Good morning, Lisanna!" he greeted her with as much enthusiasm as Natsu had. "Good to see you!"

She smiled down at the cat, awash with warm affection for him. "Good morning, Happy!"

"Not having any luck yet?" Happy asked, looking at the army of empty buckets.

"I'm afraid that Natsu's been too busy helping me untangle my line!" confessed Lisanna.

"You'll get there." Natsu grinned at her reassuringly. "Just need more practice!"

"That's right!" Jumping into the air and unfurling his wings to hover at eyelevel, Happy added, "It's been a long time since you last went fishing with us. You're just rusty!"

Their compassion warmed Lisanna's heart. "Thank you, both of you. But... I think I'll take a break and watch how it's done first before I give it another go."

Happy nodded. "That sounds good to me!"

"If that's what you want," Natsu replied with a shrug. He flipped over one of the buckets. "Have a seat."

Uncomfortable though the bucket proved to be, Lisanna was instantly grateful for the rest. And for the sheer heat that Natsu gave off as she sat beside him and watched him pull in line after line of squid. He really did make it look as easy as breathing, his movements confident with no effort wasted as Happy drew squid to his line with the light.

Soon, two buckets had been filled with squid, although it was hard to immediately tell. The inside of the bucket was pitch black, the squids having released their ink into it. The pale bodies of the squids themselves were completely lost in the inkiness.

It was then that Lisanna remembered that she'd brought along the thermos of soup. Opening it, she offered it to her friends.

"You're the best, Lisanna," Natsu praised, setting his pole into a holder and taking a sip from the lid. "It's delicious!"

After Happy had a turn, Lisanna drank some herself. It wasn't her best attempt at the soup by any means, but it warmed her to her core. Even using Natsu as a space heater, it was still very much a January morning. If not for the clear skies, Lisanna would have expected to see snow.

Once the thermos had been put away, Lisanna stood up and stretched. "Okay!" she declared. "I'm ready to try again!"

Although she didn't ultimately didn't pull in even half as many squid as Natsu did, by the time the sun started to rise they had completely filled every bucket. Pride swelled inside of Lisanna as she gazed upon the blackened buckets.

Then a thought occurred to her.

"...How are we going to get all these back to the guild?"


End file.
